Dear friends of ours, after a great deal of time spent hoping to be blessed with a child, found out they were finally expecting, and due August 23rd. The news was shared, and joyful preparations were made. An ultrasound confirmed that it was a boy, and Luke's name was chosen (though kept secret from even his parents' closest friends!)
On July 11th, six weeks before his due date, Luke's Mommy noticed that he wasn't as active as he had been, and subsequent testing showed that he was in distress. He was born via emergency C-section (at a fighting weight of 6 lbs, 3 oz), and whisked away for observations. Later in the day, his parents received the devastating news that Luke had suffered from a very rare, spontaneous in-utero condition where the blood flow reversed and went from baby to mom, with fatal consequences. This tragedy was not foreseeable, or preventable.
After blessing his grandparents and aunts and uncles with time to meet him, Luke passed away on July 12th, 2011.
It's not right, and it's not fair. Not that two warm, smart, generous, loving people, the best parents a child could ask for, don't get to bring home the baby they were expecting. Unfortunately, we are not granted the privilege of understanding why.
Luke's Mommy naturally struggles with the "what-ifs". I'm sure you can join me in reassuring her that, while we would all question ourselves just as she does (guilt is a requirement of joining the mommy club, of which my friend is now a member) we all know that she couldn't have handled things any differently. In fact, I feel that she was gifted with a special awareness of her own body that day which allowed her to meet her son, as doctors have told them that babies with this condition are usually stillborn, their problem rarely caught in time to bring them into the world alive.
"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Psalm 30:5
I truly believe that prayers for Luke's perfect little soul are unnecessary, and that he saw heaven in the moment of his final breath. I do ask, though, that you pray for Luke's strong and brave Mommy and Daddy, that they may continue to forge ahead through the darkness of the night, and that the morning will bring them unimaginable joy.
